Hypnotize The Moon A Sequel to Bright Eyes
by Ange2
Summary: **WIP** The adventures of V. Ardanowski and Luke Spencer continue. How do their friends and family react to their relationship, and who is that mysterious man trying to get a hold of Luke? **AU**
1. Hypnotize the Moon Chapter 1

Welcome to my world of make believe. This is where Port Charles is run the way I want it to be. A little background on this story. This is a sequel to the story Bright Eyes, which has yet to be finished. This story takes place about 8 months after V "left". A few things you should know, although I suggest you go back and read Bright Eyes if you haven't yet. V didn't leave with Simon, she got off the plane and rushed back to Luke's where she and Luke decide to test the waters and dive head first into love. Jaxis is still together and Bobbie and Jerry (who would never launder money again!) got married and are in the final stages of adopting a baby boy. The rest will be explained as we go.  
  
Hypnotize the Moon  
  
May 1, 2000  
  
"Claude, bring out more tequila, I'm running low," V stood behind the bar and assess the damage that she and her best friend Jasper "Jax" Jacks had done on the usually well stocked bar at Luke's. "And don't forget the champagne. The good stuff in Luke's private stash, not the crap he brings out when one of the Quartermaines lower themselves to come in here.."  
  
Claude nodded silently and tried to hide his smile. He had always enjoyed V, even before she hooked up with the boss, but now that he had gotten to know her better, he also respected her. She always spoke her mind, like it or not. And right now was a good example of one of those times. He couldn't tell if she was tipsy or just in a good mood today, but she was certainly in her prime.  
  
"Venus, the last time we did this, Alexis was less then thrilled." Jax slurred. His accent was always thicker when he was drinking, and add the slur and an average person wouldn't be able to understand him. "I doubt she'll appreciate this at all."  
  
"How often do you find out that your wife is providing your best friend with a niece?" She asked, pouring the end of their second bottle of tequila into glasses. "This is an occasion above and beyond all other occasions Jax. At least in my opinion it is. If I have to, I'll explain it to Alexis."  
  
"Every couple of years if I have anything to say about it," Jax commented with a killer grin. "Hopefully boys the next few times though. I'm sure I'll need an army of big burly brothers to protect little Jasmine from the rest of the world."  
  
V lifted her shot glass up, "To Jasmine Jacks, who we will be toasting for a long time to come. Much to her father's pleasure and her mom's chagrin I'm sure."  
  
"Jasmine Kristiana Davis-Jacks to be specific," Jax toasted before tossing back his drink. "Who will hopefully look like her mum but have my temperament."  
  
V threw her head back and laughed. "Good luck there Jasper. You'll be lucky if my little niece isn't exactly like her aunt V and her mommy. Even if she isn't that lucky, I'm sure she'll have you wrapped around her little baby pinky," She said wagging her own pinky at him.  
  
You have beautiful hands Venus," He said leaning over the bar and taking her hand in his, getting serious for the first time of the afternoon. "They're so petite, but the strength in them is incredible. They deserve to be adorned with a wedding band, or at least an engagement ring."  
  
"Jax," V snapped in a warning tone. "Between you and Jerry, you're driving me crazy. All this talk about weddings and everything that goes with them. You two go and get hitched and now it's Little V's turn. But someone forgot to ask me if it was something I wanted to do. Let me clear it up for you in case you aren't sure. I absolutely one hundred percent don't want to get married anytime soon. I'm quite content the way my life is right now," She pulled her hand back away from him, the force of the movement throwing her off balance. She stumbled backwards into a set of highball glasses. "Damn it," She muttered as she fell and heard the breaking glass tinkle around her.  
  
"Bloody hell," Jax slurred, standing up to look at her over the bar. "I'm going to have to write Luke another check again aren't I?" He thought back to the celebration the day he learned of his impending fatherhood. They had together destroyed about a thousand dollars in glassware, tossing glasses into the fireplace, and around the bar.  
  
"I'm sitting here in a pile of glass and you're worried about writing Luke a check? That's great, you're a real friend. You're bloody rich, and yet that's the first thing you think of." She looked down at her self with a lopsided smile. "You deserve to have to pay for this, it's your fault anyway. For starting in on me for no reason."  
  
"You weren't the one who had to pay up last time. Luke let you off scot free." He started to look for Claude, hoping to find him and get the mess cleaned up quickly, before the owner of this establishment got back.  
  
"Actually she didn't get off as easy as all that Lurch," Luke said, coming up beside him and peering over the bar at the sight that V was. "She has been the butt of many jokes around here. I also think both of her performances will make the security camera highlight reel that we show of all the stupid things that drunk idiots do through out the year." He was having a hard time not laughing. He yelled out for Claude, and turned back to watch his lady. "Looks like you've gotten yourself into quite a mess Smokey."  
  
"It isn't as bad as all that Luke," V said trying to gingerly push herself up without slicing her palms. "We were celebrating the newest Jacks to make her appearance, and things got a little out of control."  
  
"Isn't that what you two were celebrating the last time you trashed my club? Just how many children are you and Natasha having?" His voice softened when he said Alexis' name. She was most certainly his favorite Cassadine, even if she was now married to Lurch.  
  
"Just one, but we found out at the ultrasound today that she is a she. The doctor told us that we might not be able to find out, that babies normally turn shy during such procedures. But she takes after me and is a bit of a ham. She flashed us."  
  
"Well, since you have a legit reason to be tearing up my place, I'll only charge you half price for the ruined crystal. I'll get the rest out of Smokey, so she won't get off free this time. And to show you how very charitable I can be, I won't even call your wife and tell her about the mess you made this time."  
  
"You're a real mate Spencer. She'll probably guess where I was. But that you aren't going to rat me out this time warms my heart. Of course, I'll owe you, but I will survive."  
  
"He doesn't have to rat you out Jax," Alexis' voice came from the foyer area. "I got an anonymous call from someone saying that I might want to come pick up my errant husband who was making a drunk spectacle of himself."  
  
Jax cringed even though he could hear the amusement in her voice. "It's not my fault this time beautiful. V was the one who did the damage this time."  
  
"Only because you said," V stopped not wanting to say that he implied she should be married, and having Luke think she wanted that. "Well, he thought I needed." No, that wouldn't work either.  
  
"What was it Smokey, must be bad if you're speechless." He looked at the smirk on Jax's face, and decided it would be better to push the issue, and clear the air. "You might as well tell me what you said Lurch, so I know exactly what to charge you, since you appear to be fully at fault."  
  
"Jasper, don't. Let it go." V was desperate not to discuss this right now, or at least not in front of her friends.  
  
"Sorry Venus, it's been on my mind lately," He hoped she'd forgive him someday for what he was about to say. "All I told her was that she had very beautiful hands. Hands that it was a shame that she didn't have a wedding band or even an engagement ring on."  
  
V, who had just managed to get up and dust off her sweater and jeans almost, wanted to slink back down to the floor behind the bar. She couldn't believe he'd just said it. Alexis on the other hand, smacked her husband on the back of the head, wondering what had gotten into him. Even Claude, who was back and cleaning up the broken glass, snickered, which made it even more humiliating.  
  
"Claude, you've got nothing to laugh about buddy. You broke the golden rule of the club. That rule being No Smokey behind the bar without adult supervision. I hope you don't have plans for the next few mornings." He smiled, seeing the barkeeps face fall. "You know where I'm going with this don't' you? See you for inventory, restocking and clean up in the morning."  
  
"Come on boss, I wasn't gone more then five minutes, tops. Who would have thought she could do so much damage in that short of time period?"  
  
"Tomorrow or you owe me the same as Lurch, since you're as much to blame as he is." Luke turned to Jax next, drawing a long breath, which gave him just enough time to collect his thoughts on the whole can of worms Jax had opened.  
  
"If V wants to get married its news to me Lurch. We've never talked about it, and she's never said word one about it. Now I'm thrilled for you and Natasha, even for my sister and Gomez if it's what Barbara Jean wants, and it works out for them. But I've had one ball and chain, and would hate to turn my beautiful lady into one of those. And I don't need to give either of you two another reason to destroy my bar. Since it's apparently your favorite thing to do in celebration."  
  
"Then maybe you should step out of the picture Spencer. V is a young and very beautiful woman, who deserves more then you're giving her. Is she going to have to settle for being an honorary aunt, or is she going to have a chance to have a child of her own?"  
  
"Jax that is enough damn it," V interrupted, livid. "You're making a fool of yourself on my behalf and I don't appreciate it." Luke smiled smugly, sure he was safe, but V also turned on him. "Don't think that I'm letting you off either Spencer," She started, but was interrupted by a ringing phone, which she grabbed. "Luke's, Ardanowski speaking." She answered.  
  
She could hear traffic in the background, and breathing but no one answered her. She repeated herself, and when she still had no answer she slammed the phone down. Just something to add to her night, an obscene phone caller who wimped out. She took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts, which were a bit fuzzy from the alcohol. "Now lets see, where was I?" Luke was about to speak up, hoping he could switch to a lighter topic, but he wasn't quick enough, "Oh, now I remember."  
  
V smiled at her reluctant significant other, and leaned over the counter, to be closer to him, even though the bar counter still separated them. "You know how I feel about you Luke, and you have no reason to doubt that. You won my heart well before I ever got on or off that plane last year. But in one respect, Jax is right. I do want kids someday."  
  
Jax jumped up and yelled, "I knew it, I knew you wanted kids of your own! You've been to excited about Jasmine and Bobbie and Jerry's little boy not to want them," Alexis slapped the back of his head again, and hissed, "Shut up Jasper, or else V won't be the only woman in your life who is furious with you." Jax did as she asked, but a small pout crossed his normally happy features.  
  
"I love Lulu, and being an honorary aunt to Lucas and Jeremy is fine. But ever since I was a little girl, I played with my dolls and wanted to be a mommy."  
  
"While you were playing with your dolls darlin' I was having kids of my own. I never thought we'd ever have a Lulu and I certainly never thought of having another one. I'll be ninety by time a little Smokey is an adult. And that isn't something I want to do, I won't leave you saddled with a kid without me here to help raise him or her."  
  
"I said I wanted kids, but I never said you were going to be the proud papa Spencer," she countered. "Just that some day down the road, I'd like one of my own." V pushed off the back of the bar, throwing her arms out to balance herself. "That gives you something to think about while I'm gone tonight."  
  
"Gone? Where are you going?" Luke worried aloud. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. "You're coming back right?"  
  
"I'll be back sometime, don't worry." She said kissing him quickly on the lips. "I've got a party to continue and I wouldn't want to trash your place any more then I already have Luke. Plus since I'm rather upset with my drinking buddy, and I'm going to be drinking alone, I'd rather do it by myself. But if you need me, you know where to find me baby," She walked around the bar and out of the club, stumbling down the street to her old apartment that she still kept as her studio.  
  
Luke slapped the back of Jax's head; "Thanks a lot Lurch. That's something I didn't want to happen just yet. Forget about only owing me half. I'll send you the bill for the whole mess." He said before storming off to his office slamming the door.  
  
Looks like you're batting a thousand Jasper," Alexis said finally sitting down and ordering a juice.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A man set the pay phone received down and walked away from the booth he was at with a distinguished limp. He didn't know what Venus was doing behind the bar at Luke's. But it was going to certainly complicate matters. And he wasn't sure what to do about that just yet. He'd have to think about it. And to try and track down Luke, without the girl knowing. Only Luke could help him at this point, and V's presence would only complicate maters further. 


	2. Hypnotize the Moon Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
The smooth tones of Ella Fitzgerald wafted through her studio, filtering out the noise from the Outback below. V swayed to the music, smiling at how Luke had invaded her last place of solace. The music was just a small concession to just how huge an influence he'd become in her life.  
  
She had been adamant in the beginning of their relationship about him keeping his space, her keeping her own, and had turned him down numerous times in his offer to move in together. But it wasn't long before she was spending most evenings at the club and all nights at the little apartment above it. He was finally able to convince her to move her furniture and herself in with him, but only when she realized she hadn't seen her apartment for more then five minutes in over a month.  
  
Luke had taken great care in setting up his home to accommodate her. She had her room for her books and computer and to just relax in and she also had a studio that was next to his office, but she never seemed to get any painting done unless she was in her own territory. Coming back here didn't have the same appeal that it once did though. She found she didn't like being alone like she once thought she did.  
  
She toyed with her brush setting it down to pick up her glass of wine. She was staring at an almost blank canvas, not able to work yet. Her mind wasn't on her painting, but on a man who was probably sitting back at the club wondering what had gone wrong earlier tonight. That bothered her since she had a scene in her head, but her hands wouldn't create it because of her mind's distraction.  
  
She set the glass and the brush down, and walked back to her old bedroom, hoping to change into something more comfortable, thinking it might be exactly what she needed to calm down. She found an old T-shirt tossed on the old brass bed she had left behind, and quickly stripped down to just her panties pulling the soft cotton shirt over her head. On the way back to her easel, she lit the candles she had also left behind. A change in ambiance always did her good when she was in the midst of an artist's block.  
  
"This is much better," She said aloud, before picking her brush back up. She quickly sketched out what she had been thinking, looking it over and making a few corrections before she was pleased. She mixed up her paint and started working in earnest on her newest creation.  
  
Between the music, the scented candles and the wine, she was finally able to totally engross herself in her work. She could see the couple she was painting; the moon shone down on their partially clothed bodies, them moving in a lover's embrace as the tide lapped at their feet. She could even smell the fresh salt air, and she took a deep breath to savor it. But it wasn't salt that she smelled, but expensive tobacco. "How long have you been there?" She asked, knowing that Luke would be behind her.  
  
"Long enough to know that I want you to paint at home more often. You're incredibly sexy when you do." He wrapped his arms around her ran a hand up under the front of her shirt, massaging her warm skin with his rough fingertips. He caressed her hardened nipple with his thumb and smiled when she shivered at his touch.  
  
"This is exactly why I don't paint at home Luke," She said, turning in his embrace and bringing her arms up around his neck, pushing flush against him. "You get turned on, I get distracted and I don't get anything done." She ran her fingers over his closely shaved scalp, massaging down to the knot she knew he always had at the base of his neck.  
  
"But isn't what I have planned more fun then painting by yourself darlin?" He drawled, slowly pushing her shirt up her tight stomach.  
  
"I thought you wanted to watch me paint? Wasn't that the whole idea of you coming to find me?" She made a move to step back, but he pulled her even closer.  
  
"I want to make love to my lady. I'll watch you paint later." Luke started pulling her towards the bedroom. He had never spent much time in her apartment, but he did know where the important rooms were. "Unless you'd rather be painting, and then I will have to wait I suppose."  
  
"I have a much better idea," she whispered huskily, "How would you like to see me finger paint? You might enjoy it."  
  
He looked at her, unsure. "I love your work V, but I don't have any more room on the wall of my office or on the fridge to put up another finger painting up. Lulu has the corner on that market anyway."  
  
"I'm talking about adult finger painting Spencer. Get undressed, and I'll paint you a picture you won't soon forget."  
  
~~*~~*~~  
  
Jerry Jacks paced the hallway between his room and his son's nursery. Jeremy hadn't stopped crying for hours, and daddy was starting to worry. The baby hadn't had a spell like this in weeks, but something was off tonight, something he couldn't put his finger on. He had come to be able to read the boy's hungry or wet cries, but this was different. They had gone through everything and then some during the baby's detox, but things had gotten considerably better since. At least that's what he had thought.  
  
"Listen to me kiddo, if you stop crying at least till your mum gets home, I will buy you anything you want." He spoke in a low, soothing voice. When that didn't work, he tried again. "How about a nice warm bath Jeremy, would that make you happy?" He knew had worked in the hospital and hoped that it would calm him down for a little while. Bobbie was due home soon, and she could give the boy a look over and assure him that he was over reacting. He put the foam baby bath down on his foam mat in the tub, and turned the water on. At the sound, Jeremy stopped crying, his brown eyes perking up immediately.  
  
"If this is all you were wanting, you should have told me before I sang myself hoarse, hurting both of our ears." Jerry said kissing the boy before setting him in his little bath. "Next time you cry, I'm just going to take you down to the docks, and we'll go sailing. That's what I do when I get upset. We'll get your big brother and the three of us will go out for the day. It's much more exciting then this old bath tub."  
  
"Not till he's older you won't. He'll have to be out of the toddler stage before he is allowed out on that wreck you call a boat."  
  
"That's no way to talk about your namesake. The Barbara Jean is hardly a wreck, she just needs some work done on her. And Lucas and I are getting her in ship shape condition for next summer. Then you won't be so hard on her." Jerry smiled up at his new bride, with wonder. That she came home to him still amazed him.  
  
"You couldn't do something easy could you? Instead of buying a boat that we could go out on, you bought that piece of junk, and we have to resort to mooching off of your brother when we want to go out." Bobbie knelt down next to the tub, and leaned in to look at her son. "Was he crying like that for long?" She asked, worried about his coloring.  
  
"Of course I couldn't do it easy. This is a character builder, one that Jasper won't have to talk about with his children. He's always taken the easy route." He said with a chuckle, checking his watch. "He's been at it a couple of hours. He was fussy when I put him down for the night, but nothing like this. I left him cry for a little bit, but Lucas has school in the morning, and I thought I could calm him down. I was just telling him he had to hold out for you to get home, cause you always know what to do when he's upset. This was a last resort."  
  
"It seems to have worked, good call on your part." She trickled some water over his stomach, and smiled when her son cooed. "Whatever set this off, it's over for the time being. Was he good the rest of the day?"  
  
"The best. He ate well, and we spent some solid father/son time today. And he's won over the girls at the office. Quit the flirt, even more so then his old man."  
  
"I suppose that isn't the worst trait of yours that he could have picked up. But we should be careful about over stimulating him. That could have been part of his problem tonight."  
  
"I hadn't considered that. We had most of the typing pool in for a vist at one point or another."  
  
Bobbie rolled her eyes, and wondered if J&J Jacks was the only company in the world that still had a typing pool on hand. Of course they were probably big enough to require it. "You know we might want to consider getting a nanny to stay home with him on days that you go into the office. One who has experience with special needs children."  
  
"He isn't a special needs child. No more then Lucas is, and we don't treat him like one love." They'd had this conversation before when they first discussed adopting the boy. He also knew she meant well, trying to keep him from getting his hopes up, but he also wasn't going to let her bring them down.  
  
"Jerry, Lucas is a special needs child, but he's old enough now to be able to know how to take care of himself. But he also still needs us to watch out for him. Jeremy isn't old enough to tell us that the lights are to bright, or that something happened earlier to set off this fit tonight."  
  
"The only special need he has is that he needs more love, to make up for his idiot mother. I'll concede that right now. But he isn't going to be coddled for what problems he might have when he's older. We'll deal with those when we get there."  
  
"We might be there right now. Every child who is born with a dependency is different Jer. We don't know what adverse effects he'll have from the drugs. We also don't know what drugs she used, if it was an extended period of time or just that once," She knew that more then likely wasn't the case, having done her time in neo-natal and having seen more then her fair share of pregnant abusers. "We just don't know what we're dealing with, and won't find out until he starts walking and talking and we can see what kind of developmental problems he encounters."  
  
"There won't be any, he's going to be a normal boy, I've got faith in that Bobbie. I know that some day we might have to face facts, but does it have to be now? When we don't know what's going to happen?"  
  
Bobbie's need to make sure he understood just what they were facing was battling with her motherly instincts. "Ok, I give up. Let's just try to keep his stimuli down. Or else we're going to have a lot of sleepless nights coming up."  
  
"I had one planned for tonight," Jerry said with a wink, "but the little one seems to have different plans for us. Pacing by candle light has its upsides though."  
  
"It certainly does. And it's still quality time. We could turn down the lights, and turn on some soft music, and the three of us can enjoy the evening together." She picked up a soft cloth, slowly washing Jeremy, amazed at the gurgle she received. Such a drastic change from the crying of just a few minutes ago.  
  
"I'd like that very much. I can't imagine two people I would rather spend my night with. And maybe he'll cut us some slack and go down for the night again. At least I can hope."  
  
"You never know, he's calmed down, so he just might. Why don't I meet you downstairs after we finish up with bath time." Bobbie said, with a smile at her husband.  
  
I'll see you both down there," Jerry kissed his wife. "You keep smiling in there kiddo. You're mum has the best bedside manner of any nurse at GH, and not to many men get the full treatment.  
  
"Get out of here Jerry," Bobbie said, splashing water towards the door as Jerry dove out of it. "I hope you turn out to be just like your daddy Jeremy. You could do a heck of a lot worse, that's for sure."  
  
"I heard that," Jerry called out, garnering a string of cuss words from Bobbie. "But I know you still love me," He said before heading down to the living room, dimming the lights to try get it ready for his lady and his son.  
  
~~*~*~*~~  
  
"Do you mind if I sit down?" Laura Spencer turned to look over her shoulder, seeing someone she never would have expected to see hanging around here. He wasn't really the Luke's type, much to classy to hang out in a joint like this.  
  
"Well, I don't see anyone else rushing to join me," She said, almost bitterly. "If you'd like to, I'd enjoy the adult company."  
  
"Being a beautiful lady, I'd think you'd have to beat the men away," Ned Ashton said sitting down at the bar next to her. He hadn't planned on stopping at Luke's, knowing he wasn't really welcome here. If V was around, he was tolerated, but if she wasn't, this was hardly his type of place.  
  
"It's kind of you to say so, but it doesn't happen. I'm essentially persona non grata around this town. I'm Luke Spencer's ex-wife, and that basically marks me as a hands off."  
  
"Even though he's moved on?" Ned hated the fact that his friend was attached to Luke, who was no where near good enough for her. He saw Laura flinch, and felt bad for the woman. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring up something that obviously still hurts."  
  
"It's ok. It shouldn't still bother me. But sitting in the club, waiting to see if Luke is going to show up, since Claude won't tell me where he is, or if he's due back. I'm a bit on edge."  
  
"Then why sit here? If he's not here, he's probably not going to be here, and you're only making yourself miserable."  
  
"I've got a little girl who wants to spend the weekend with her daddy, and I'm not going to disappoint her, even if her father doesn't care if he does or not. So I sit here in hopes that he'll show up."  
  
Ned waved for Claude, who came over, trying not to laugh about V's Quartermaine crack from earlier. "What can I do for you Mr. Ashton."  
  
"Will you please tell Luke that Mrs. Spencer was here to see him regarding his daughter, and that if he gets back tonight, she can be reached at my cell phone? We're going out for dinner, and I would hate for him to miss her."  
  
Claude nodded, making a note that he was going to have to mention this surprising twist to the boss. Laura and a Quartermaine, just another in the line of strange things he's seen since coming to work for Luke.  
  
"There you go, now you don't have to sit here waiting, and I don't have to give up your company because you don't want to leave." He said, standing up and offering her his arm. "If you want to join me that is. We can compare 6 year olds and talk about life in Port Charles."  
  
"I would like that very much. I forget that you've got a little girl the same age as Lulu, who probably wants to talk tea parties." Laura said, taking his arm with a smile. This was something she wouldn't have expected to ever happen, but it could be fun.  
  
"Baseball and music I can handle, but tea parties? Forget it. I'm out of my element there." Ned said leading her towards the door. "Maybe we can get our girls together for a play date. I've got Brooke staying with me while Lois is out on the road, and I think that she's getting tired of playing with grandfather."  
  
The thought of Edward playing with a six-year-old girl made Laura laugh. "We'll set something up over dinner. Lulu doesn't have to many friends in town. Not a lot of little girls her age around here. And while teddy will suffice in a pinch, tea parties aren't much fun without another little girl."  
  
"You're just who I needed to meet up with tonight Laura. I'm glad I convinced myself to stop in for a drink." He said, his dimples making an appearance for the first time in what he felt like was forever.  
  
"I'm glad that you saw me too. This is much better then sitting there hosting my own pity party."  
  
"Who wants to host their own pity party, when they can share it with a friend?" He said leading her down the street to the Port Charles hotel for dinner at the Grille.  
  
~~*~*~~  
  
After the near disaster with Venus on the phone, he had limped over to hang out on the docks, waiting for Luke to walk by. Spencer was a creature of habit, even if he didn't think he was. When he finally did pass he followed Luke to the Outback. He couldn't hang around there, in case Mac was there, but he had to figure something out to get a hold of his last hope. Without alerting his family to his presence in town. 


	3. Hypnotize the Moon Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
V sat as still as she possibly could, while still being able to draw. When she woke up, she thought to work on her painting, but seeing Luke asleep changed her mind. The way the sheet draped over his sinew body, and the moonlight was perfectly shadowing her lover's features giving him a more peaceful look. It was rare to see him so still, and she wanted to get it down on paper to commemorate the moment. He'd hate it when he woke up, but the peace and quiet to be allowed to work was to tempting then his potential anger. She would later take her pencil drawings and turn it into a portrait or something else that she can keep from this time in her life.  
  
Luke rolled over, and when his arm felt pillow and not V, his eyes opened and he looked around for her. He found her, and smiled. When she was drawing, she looked even more like a little girl then she normally did. Her knees were drawn up, and her drawing pad was up against them. "What are you working on that was so important that you had to do it right away darlin"  
  
"I wanted to have a tangible memory of tonight, that I could hold onto when I was old and grey. Something to show my grandkids to let them know that grandma wasn't always an old fuddy duddy." She said, closing her pad. She would have to finish from memory later, when he wasn't around to distract her.  
  
"Then you couldn't have been drawing me, since I don't think that you could show any child what we were doing earlier without fear of being arrested," He said, reaching for her pad.  
  
"You won't like what you're going to see," V said trying to grab it back from him. "None of it is really finished, and I hate when people want to look before I'm finished."  
  
"Calm down Smokey, I don't care if they're not finished, and I won't even say anything if I don't like them." He said, opening up her pad and flipping through her other work. There were some sketches of Lulu, some of the pregnant Natasha, some people who he recognized from around the docks. There were even some of him and Claude at the club that he never knew she had been working on. He finally got to what she had been working on tonight, and he couldn't believe what she had seen.  
  
V bit her lip, trying not to worry to much about what he was thinking. But when he flipped through all four pages of her new sketches she couldn't help it, she had to know. "What do you think Luke? Do you think the likeness is there?"  
  
"These are amazing. The ones of Lulu are beautiful. I'd like them to frame if you'll allow me." He said still looking at the last page in her book. "And the ones you've done tonight. I don't know where you were looking, but whoever that guy is, he's lucky to be held in such high regard."  
  
"Well, I like to think he is. He's quite the man, one I'm very lucky to be involved with." She unwound her legs and laid down facing him, draping an arm across his waist. "I probably don't tell him that enough, which always gets me in trouble. Especially if I'm arguing with him, over something stupid, and he thinks I'm really mad."  
  
"I'm sure he knows darlin', but he can be pretty dense at times." He set her work down on the bedside table, and wrapped her in his embrace. He wasn't sure if he wanted to upset her right now, but he did want to talk about what happened earlier. "You know, if you don't want to I'll understand, but can we talk about what happened at the club?"'  
  
"Do we have to?" She asked, dreading this conversation. "I stand by what I say, and while I wish Jax hadn't brought it up, I think it would have come up eventually. It just wasn't his place to bring it up."  
  
"I wish you had come to me first, before he had a chance to bring it up. I never knew you wanted to get married and have kids. In the almost year we've been together it never came up."  
  
V sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get out of this. "Because there was no need to bring it up. I'm quite content to continue with our life as it is." She said, looking him directly in the eye, so he knew she was being honest with him. "I'm not the one who wants to get married, at least not right now. Jax and Jerry are the ones who think I should be married. Once they settled down into blissfully married lives, they wanted to share the wealth. But just because now I don't want to settle down it doesn't mean that someday, with someone I don't want to get married and have kids." She knew about his marital issues, and didn't blame him. He'd spent over half of his life married to one woman, and had a lot of hurt left over from that.  
  
"You knew what you getting into Smokey, I tried to warn you." Luke said ominously. "I didn't want to lead you on, into thinking that I was going to settle down again."  
  
"I know and you didn't Luke. I knew what I was getting into from the very beginning. I'm not to a point yet that I want to settle down. What part of that are you not getting? I like where we are right now. I'm not going to beg you to marry me at some point, if that's what you're afraid of. If there's some point where I am ready to settle down, I'll just drift away and you won't have to fear that I'll try and convert you into the marrying kind."  
  
"I don't want you to leave either." He said, knowing he was in a no win situation however this played out in the end.  
  
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you can't have your cake and eat it too?" She asked with a grin. "Right now, I'm going no where. I've got Lulu, Jeremy and soon Jasmine to sooth the savage ticking of my biological clock. Plus, there aren't a lot of contenders for the job of husband and father. Jax and Jer have married others, and no one else wants to get caught trying to mess with your lady, so you have no worries."  
  
"There are a lot of men who want to mess with my lady Smokey, they just won't do it while I'm still around to stop them," he chuckled. "I can think of a few men who wouldn't mind sniffing around your skirt if I weren't in the picture."  
  
"Great, just what I wanted to hear. What on earth do you think I would want with a man who thinks I would find sniffing attractive. Sometimes you really age yourself babe." She said with a small sniff of her own. "You treat me like a kid, but I'm far from it. I've been around, maybe not as much or as long as you, but I do know a thing or two."  
  
"I know you do. But when it comes to men, you're pretty naïve darlin'." He said stroking her cheek. "It's one of the things that first drew me to you, you blushed when I'd flirt with you. It's did an old man's heart good to flirt with a pretty woman, who still remembered how to be feminine without giving up her independence."  
  
"How you can switch from being such a pig to so sweet and romantic is beyond me." She shook her head, at him, with a smile. "Well, you don't have to worry Luke. I'm not going to force you to marry me, or have Jax hold a gun to your head. If there is a point when I want to do something like that, there aren't any strings here. Nothing is tying me to you, and the same goes for you. If you see someone else Luke, who you think would make you happy, then I don't want you sticking with me out of some kind of Spencer loyalty."  
  
"This isn't about me wanting to find someone else, I'm quite happy with what I've got," Luke said almost angrily. "I just don't want it to come back to me holding you back from what you want to do. But you knew what you getting into Smokey, I tried to warn you in the beginning. I didn't want to lead you on, into thinking that I was going to settle down again."  
  
"Why on earth are you all of the sudden worried about something that Jax told you?" She asked, wanting to stop this conversation right now. "Just chalk it up to Blondie being a pain in the butt, and call it a night Luke. I don't want to talk about this anymore, because for now, there isn't anything to talk about." She closed her eyes and rolled away from Luke, not wanting to talk or think or do anything but perhaps throttle Jasper Jacks for the trouble he'd caused her.  
  
"You know if you didn't want to talk about it Smokey, you could have just said so," Luke said curling her into his arms. "And you're right. Lurch will have to pay for this, and I've had my eyes on a new set of glassware for the club. Maybe that's how he can repay me. That might just work after all." He said quietly against her hair. This conversation would have to wait for another time and place, but he knew it would come up again. More then likely sooner then later.  
  
~~**~~**~~**~~  
  
"You know husband, that wasn't a very nice thing you did to poor V tonight?" Alexis called out to her errant husband from the master bath. Jax was somewhere in the area, probably puttering in the bedroom, waiting for her to finish washing her face and completing her other nightly rituals. "Could you have embarrassed the poor woman any more, especially since she's only recently forgiven you for acting like such a jack ass when she tried to leave."  
  
"Oh come on Alexis, someone needed to do what I did tonight, V won't rock the boat and Spencer takes her for granted." Jax who had been standing at the door watching his wife get ready for bed, walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, gently cradling her rounding stomach. "If he thinks that I'm going to stand by while he traps V into some long term relationship with him, then he's not as smart as he likes to pretend he is."  
  
"I know you don't like their relationship husband, but you have to learn that you can't tell V what she can and can't do." Alexis pulled her hair up before turning into Jax's embrace. "And Luke is a wonderful man, if you can get past all of his little eccentricities. He's helped me out many a time, without even asking why we were doing what we were. He's a good friend to have, and can't you see he adores V?"  
  
"You call that adoring? He's too old, too stuck in his ways and just not the right man for V." Jax said, punctuating each flaw with a kiss. "She needs someone who is going to be there for the long haul, who is going to take care of her, and who doesn't have a history. Luke has more then a history, and that's not good for V either. What is she thinking with anyway? Spencer is barely legal and his best friends are mobsters."  
  
"She's thinking with her heart Jax. Remember when you used to have one of those?" She said tapping on his chest. "It's that thing that makes you such a sweet romantic, and made me fall head over heels in love with you when it was the last thing I wanted to do?"  
  
"So mine is better then V's? Or maybe just smarter." Jax said with a small snort. "I'd believe that, I never would have fallen for a man like Luke Spencer, not in a million years."  
  
"Yes, you've made that quiet obvious, and if you had fallen for Luke, I don't think we'd all be here where we are today. You wouldn't be my type at all." Alexis teased, smiling up at Jax. "When are you going to learn that V is a big girl Jax? She doesn't need taking care of, and she's not looking for the same things you are right now. Leave the poor woman be, for all you know, Luke will change his mind and things will work out happily for them."  
  
"Like it has with us?" He asked, picking her up in his arms and carrying her towards their bedroom. "No one would have pegged us for being together right now. But here we are,"  
  
"Yes, here we are," Alexis sighed dreamily, resting against her husband's chest. "And exactly like us. Just give V the benefit of the doubt on this. She obviously knows what she's doing and you should try supporting her for once. You might find that she reacts to it better."  
  
"I'll sleep on it," He said putting Alexis down in bed. "Or maybe I'll sleep on you. That would be a better solution, I'd wake up much happier that way I think. While thinking of V for a night would be a pleasurable change of pace, I'd rather be dreaming sweet thoughts of my wife instead."  
  
"Oh, I have other things in mind, although dreaming might come somewhere down the road." Alexis winked, beckoning her infuriating mate to join her on the bed. "Although if you'd rather sleep," She let her voice trail off suggestively, waiting to see what he was thinking.  
  
"Sleep can wait, I think I like this conversation much better then the one before it," Jax said dimming the lights in the suite.  
  
*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
Waiting between the Outback and Luke's quickly got old, and it appeared that whatever was keeping Luke at the Outback was going to take more time then he had thought. The man knew that desperation was going to be settling in soon, and he really needed to get in touch with his old friend. Luke always knew what to do in times of crisis, or at least would be able to offer him a drink and give him a chance to plot his next course of action. But that gave him an idea, if he couldn't catch Luke, maybe he could lure Luke to him. He headed directly to Lukes, hoping it would be dark enough so that no one would recognize him. He sat down at the bar and waited for the bar tender to get around to him to make his request.  
  
"I need to see Luke Spencer immediately. I know he's not here, but I need you to bring him to me, he'll want to see me." The man told Claude, who didn't recognize the stranger, and he certainly wasn't someone who he was going to track down Luke for.  
  
"Sorry buddy, he's followed his girlfriend out of here earlier tonight, and I'm not going to call V up and explain to her that someone I don't know wants to get a hold of Luke. He'll be in tomorrow morning if you need to talk to him?"  
  
"Luke and V Ardanowski?" Luke was dating Venus? He was old enough to be her father what was he thinking? "Listen to me, I need to talk to him now, and if you were to call and tell him that Robert Scorpio were here looking for him, I have a feeling that he'd come running."  
  
"I might not have been around here my whole life, but I do know that the man you just said you were is dead. I don't know who you are, but I think you'd better get out of here before the boss does come back." Whoever this whack job was, Claude didn't want to be around if Luke should find him here.  
  
"I can prove I am who I say I am, but I need Luke here to do it." With no identification, he knew he wouldn't be able to convince anyone but his old friend of his identity.  
  
"Sorry buddy, no can do. Get out of here now, before I call one of the bouncers to take you out." Claude dismissed the man, waiting until he limped out of the club again. "My luck, the loonies only come in when I'm around to kick them out," He muttered to himself, wiping down the bar. 


	4. Hypnotize the Moon Chapter 4

Part 4  
  
Robert limped his way back across the docks towards the Outback. He was going to kill Luke given the chance, what the hell was he thinking dating his daughter. True, he concede that no one knew that Venus was his child, he'd taken enough precautions to prevent anyone from knowing, but the fact that he knew was enough to upset him.  
  
But there was no way right now, that he could kill Luke, and not tip V off to her parentage. It wasn't safe yet, for him or his children. He didn't want either Robin or V to know yet that he was alive, but that was being taken out of his hands too. "Damn Luke Spencer, I should have killed him when I had the chance." He murmured quietly, as he headed up the back steps of the Outback. He didn't mean what he had said, Luke would always be his best mate, but he'd over stepped his bounds this time. "The last place I want to be is the only place I can find safety," He stood in front of V's door, not doing one last mental check of anywhere else he could go before knocking, hard so that it would be loud enough to wake up the sleeping couple.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
"Why is it so hard for me to go back to sleep when I'm mad at him, but Luke can fall right to sleep, no matter what is going on?" V asked aloud, watching again the masculine form of her sleeping lover beside her. "You're impossible Luke Spencer, and I love you." She told him, and in response he rolled onto his stomach and snored lightly. "Figures, go ahead and sleep love, at least one of us will feel better about all of this in the morning." She whispered, rolling quietly out of bed, pulling the shirt she'd been wearing earlier on as she walked out of the bedroom.  
  
Not in the mood to finish her drawings, and not wanting to look at the painting she'd started earlier in the evening, she headed to the kitchen to scrounge up some cocoa and a bag of microwave popcorn. She considered briefly calling Jax, to see if he would chat with her while they watched some senseless dribble on TV, but remembered she was mad at him before picking up the phone. So she just wandered into the kitchen, looking in all of her hiding places for a midnight snack that would settle her down. She had just put the popcorn in her little microwave when she heard a knock at the door.  
  
Without even thinking about it, V walked over and opened the door. Whoever left the Outback last always checked her apartment to make sure nothing was going on. If they saw a light on or heard noises, they'd knock and check on her. It was Mac being overprotective, but she always appreciated the knock, which was a friendly reminder that someone was looking out for her. But it wasn't one of the normal bartenders who was standing there outside her door, or if it was she didn't even recognize him. The shock of not finding Jeff or Paul there made her take a step back, going against everything she learned in any training class at the academy. It was a step that Robert was ready to take advantage of, and he pushed the door open a little wider, inviting himself in.  
  
"I'm sorry to bother you so late Venus, but I've been told that you're harboring someone I need to speak to urgently." Robert spoke softly, but V could hear every word.  
  
"Look, I don't know who you are or how you know my name, but you aren't welcome here." V looked at his tattered clothing and naturally assumed he was one of the bums from the docks. He wasn't someone she could pinpoint, but a lot of the men down there knew her, even if she didn't know them. "If you're looking for money or anything else, I don't have any here, but I do have my boyfriend in the bedroom, who will come out here if he hears just a peep out of me. And he'll be armed, and I don't want to have to bail him out for trying to save me from a vagrant. Not that I need Luke to save me, I am a trained officer of the law."  
  
"Peep away love, it's Spencer I need to see. Trust me, once he sees that I'm the one visiting, I don't think my mate will be taking aim at me. And you are everything I would think that one of Spencer's women would be. Feisty, smart and not someone who backs down easily." Outside of her one mistake, stepping away from the door to allow him to push his way in, he couldn't find fault in her behavior yet. She wasn't going to back down from him, she had gotten that spunk from her mother, along with her beauty and brains. "And I know you were a police officer, among other things. You aren't telling me anything I don't know luv,"  
  
"Who are you? You sound like a couple of friends of mine, but you're not anyone I know." He did sound somewhat like Jax and Jerry, and to a lesser extent Mac, who probably had that much of an accent when he first got to town too. "Are you some distant relative of Mac? Is that how you got in here?"  
  
"Very perceptive Venus, why don't you go wake up that dirty dingo you're dating and he'll be able to tell you who I am. Go on, go get him," Robert said shooing her away from the door. He made his way to the only chair in the room, a raggedy papasan, "I promise, I'll still be here, I need Luke too much to disappear again, and on this leg, I don't go very far very fast anyway."  
  
"Stop calling me Venus, I hate that name." She grumbled, backing away from this infuriating man. "I'll be right back with Luke, and if you know what's good for you, you will be gone before I get back. I don't want any trouble, and I can forget about this if you can."  
  
"Will you just go wake Spencer up, and before he comes out here guns blazing, tell him that Robert Scorpio is here to see him," Robert hoped that would save the heart attack and dramatics of a long over due reunion. There was much to get done tonight, and they didn't have the time to deal with emotions. Those could come later, right now he needed facts and someone whose head wasn't clouded.  
  
V stiffened when she heard the name he used. That wasn't possible, she'd heard all about Robert Scorpio, from both Luke and Mac. He was dead, had been for years, although both men still spoke of him in the same reverence. Not even after the whole Faison tape fiasco had anyone been able to prove differently. But here was this living, breathing man claiming to be said dead guy. "I'll be right back." She said and hurried into the bedroom. She jumped on the bed, just barley missing Luke. "Wake up Spencer, we've got some loony in the living room."  
  
Luke was awake the moment V hit the bed, and was moving before he could even comprehend what she was saying. He stopped, in middle of pulling his jeans on. "We have a what in the where? How did he get in, and what were you thinking leaving him alone in there? Darlin' that wasn't the smartest move in the world. By time we get back out there if you have anything left, it'll be amazing."  
  
"Luke, he isn't trying to rob me. If he was, would he have told me to come in here and wake you up? He knows that you're here, he knows my name, not just V, but he kept calling me Venus. This is someone who knows us," V thought over the past few weeks, trying to see if there was ever a time she hadn't felt right about being out on the town, but nothing came to mind.  
  
"It's not like we're quite, stay at home, book worm types V, people around town know us." Luke finished pulling up and zipping his jeans. "And as much as you don't want to hear this, your name isn't the closely guarded secret that it once was. A lot of people know it, they just don't want you to know they know."  
  
"I'd have known if I was being tailed, and I haven't been. Not unless you count a couple of Sonny's guys watching me when I'm out on the docks." V knew they were there on Luke's request, so she didn't make a fuss, but she wasn't going to pretend that she didn't know they were there anymore. "I've known about them from the beginning, don't you think I'd know if someone else was following me?"  
  
"Probably, but that still doesn't mean they don't know us. We had photographers all over the Halloween party at the club, and we attend a lot of those damn dress up social functions that get lots of publicity." Luke walked over to her little nightstand and took her handgun out, just in case this was more then just some crazy bum that had taken a liking to V.  
  
V didn't know if she should tell him what the guy had said just before she ran in there. If by some act of god, that was Robert Scorpio sitting in her studio, she didn't think it was her place to tell Luke. "I don't think you're going to need a gun Luke, he could barely stand up. Looks like whoever he is, he's had it pretty rough."  
  
"Can't be to cautious darlin', if he broke in here, who knows what he's capable of." Luke said crossing the small room.  
  
"He didn't exactly break in, just got in Luke." Maybe she should tell him after all, V battled internally. "Look, there's something you should know, something this guy told me before I came back here." V followed Luke, who wasn't listening to her anymore, he walked around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, gun drawn but not moving any further. V, who wasn't paying attention to his movement, but was still trying to stop him ran right into to the back of him. "Luke? What's wrong?"  
  
"Put the gun away Luke, I told your friend in the skimpy T-shirt to inform you that I was here to see you. I just don't think she believed me. I told you luv, tell him it was Robert and it would all be fine." Robert stood up, slowly, trying not to limp or show any weaknesses. He walked up and took the gun away from Luke, handing it to V, taking control of the situation. "We won't be needing this love, why don't you put it away and put on some clothes. We'll need some coffee and a little something to eat. I haven't had a good meal in days."  
  
"What do I look like, a maid? If you want food, you can go out and get yourself some. I don't even cook for Luke, why on earth do you think I'd bother to cook for you," Who was this guy that had Luke so shaken? He couldn't possibly be Robert Scorpio. But who else would have this kind of power to turn her lover speechless. She wrapped an arm around Luke, waiting to see what his next move was going to be. When it came it was more of a surprise to her then anything. He moved quickly grabbing the man in an embrace that would have knocked a weaker willed man over.  
  
"Where in the hell have you been Robert? We all thought you were dead?" Luke let go and took a step back to just look at his old friend again, still not totally sure that he was there and not just a hallucination. "Babe, why don't you run and get the man some food. If you don't have anything, we could get some Eli's. They'll probably deliver if you tell them it's for me."  
  
"Sure, but he looks like he needs a doctor too. Someone to give him a look over, he's not very steady on his feet. Maybe you can get one of Sonny's men over here while I get food." She wasn't happy about being reduced to a waitress, but she'd do it for Luke this one time, under what was turning out to be some very strange conditions.  
  
"No, no mob doctors. I'm fine, or at least I will be once I get some food into me. I've had the limp for a while now. I don't think anyone can do anything to fix it at this point." Robert protested quickly. It was his WSB roots, he wouldn't take help from the mob. Not even through Luke.  
  
"No doctor no food Mr. Scorpio." It was the first time V had addressed him as such, and the name didn't come easy to her. "You said you wanted Luke's help, which means you get mine for free, because I come with the man. So, sit back down, let Luke call you a doctor, while I hop over to Eli's to get you both some food, It will also give you a chance to talk in private, without me butting in. But I'll want some answers when I get back. And since this is my place you pushed your way into, and not Luke's I deserve at least that." She said it with a finality that Luke had long ago learned not to argue with.  
  
"Better do it Robert, she gets mad when people don't listen to her." Luke smiled at V, proud that she was taking charge of the situation while he was still in shock. "And I promise no mob doctor. I know just the woman to help out. She owes me one, and I happen to know she's a night owl so she won't have a problem coming over here."  
  
"Thanks mate, old habits die hard, and I'm not quite ready to walk the line between the WSB and our local mobster just yet. I want to get my life back, not taken away from me just when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel." Robert limped back to the papasan, keeping an eye on V, who was walking back to the bedroom to change into some clothes to run to get food in. Luke smiled after his young companion, knowing that Robert was probably a bit shocked to find him with someone other then Laura.  
  
"She's something isn't she?" He asked his friend, walking to pick up the phone, to call the only person he knew he could trust right now. "You're going to love her once you get to know her Robert, she's everything I ever could have wanted in a companion, without ever knowing it. She might come off a little saucy, but she normally purrs like a kitten. Once you're fed and I get Lesley to look you over, she'll be happier with the both of us."  
  
"Lesley Webber?" That couldn't be who he meant, Robert knew she was long dead to him, long before her untimely death had taken her from her family and friends.  
  
"Of course," Luke said like there was no other Lesley in the world. "Wait a second, you were gone before we learned she was alive, it wasn't until we were back in Port Charles that we found out. Things have changed around here buddy, Cassadines live among us like they never tried to freeze the joint, much to my chagrin. We've got even more Australian's around, not even including your brother, who we won't get into right now. One of them happens to be shacked up with my sister as a matter of fact. And the biggest surprise of all, is that my now ex-mother-in-law is alive and well, and is living back in town. She'll help you and won't say a word to anyone that you're here. She knows the drill, you won't have to worry."  
  
"That's the last thing I'm worried about right now." Robert muttered, as he caught sight of his daughter again, this time fully dressed in a pair of tight black jeans and a t-shirt. "But call. Maybe she can help me." 


	5. Hypnotize the Moon Chapter 5

Luke waited until his old friend sat back down awkwardly in the raggedy papasan before picking up the phone and dialing Lesley Webber. He hated to bring in his former mother-in-law into this, but he couldn't think of anyone else he could trust that wouldn't send Robert running again. "Give me a few minutes Robert, and we'll have you checked out and on your way back to health."  
  
"Not likely mate, no one I've talked to has been able to fix this limp. Shattered bones don't heal when all you have to form a cast is some palm fronds and sand." Robert shifted, trying to get his old bones to stop screaming out in pain. Every so often, he could get his body aligned just right so it didn't hurt, but it wasn't going to happen in this bamboo contraption that his daughter thought was furniture.  
  
"Maybe not, but Lesley, she's an angel of mercy, she'll be able to do what no one else could. And you're going to be here long enough to make sure of it aren't you?"  
  
"I've come home Luke." Robert said simply. "I've been gone for so long, and missed so much of my family's lives. I don't want to risk ever doing it again if I can help it."  
  
"Then why come to me? Wouldn't you have gone to Mac first? We aren't going to be able to contain him once he knows Robert. After the Faison incident, we both looked for you." While not looking in the same way, he and Mac had kept in touch with their findings. "Bubba isn't much of a commissioner, but he did try hard to find you."  
  
"I will have to deal with Mac eventually, just not now." Robert said with a sigh. "I have to deal with a lot of people. But I don't think I'm up for it tonight. I need a good stiff drink, some food and a good nights sleep."  
  
"You can stay here with us tonight, I don't think V will mind giving up the bed for a night, and then we'll find you someplace safe to stay until you're out of what ever trouble you're in." Luke didn't know where that would be just yet, but they'd find someplace for him. "I'll even call Mac and Felicia for you, and let them know that you're alive after all these years.  
  
"No, Mac and Felicia, they can't know yet." Robert said, sitting back straight up, or as straight as he could in the curved chair "It's not safe yet, and they have little ones to worry about. That's why I came to you Luke, you could help me without involving your children."  
  
"For you, I would, but I don't worry much about Lulu. Laura keeps her safe, and away from my business for the most part." Luke wasn't sure how to go about approaching the topic of Lucky, it still pained him to think about the death of his oldest child. "What do you need me to do? You know I'll do it without a thought."  
  
"We need to remove Ceaser Faison once and for all from the picture Luke. Only in doing that will I ever be able to walk again a free man." There was so much more at stake, for himself and for Luke, and their families.  
  
"Faison? Robert, he's dead. I saw him turned into fish food myself, ask Bubba, he was the one who did it." Although so far he had seemed like the old Robert. Maybe years of doing what ever he was doing to get back to his home had scrambled his brains a little more then he let on.  
  
"That's what he wants you to think Luke. But he's out there, and he is holding someone near and dear to your heart. If we don't take him out once and for all, we lose more then me just having to stay underground for the rest of my life."  
  
~*~  
  
"We won't be needing this love, why don't you put it away and put on some clothes. We're going to need some coffee and a little something to eat. I haven't had a good meal in days." V muttered once she got out of her old apartment. She should have told him to stick it, but he was Luke's friend and Mac's brother, so she would at least try to be polite. But it was going to take everything she had to succeed in being nice to this man. He was as infuriating as anyone she'd ever met including the man she was currently living with. She never thought she'd meet anyone who could get to her more then Luke did, but she had tonight.  
  
V had bypassed the caddy, knowing she was still a little tipsy from her earlier exploits. She reasoned with herself that it wasn't that far to Eli's and that it such a beautiful night out. Of course, that was before trying to bring home 3 full orders of ribs along with everything else that came with the diners. Tipsy or not, they were heavy, and she could have used a hand with them. Yet another reason to dislike Robert Scorpio. He had barged in on what had become quite a nice evening, and now she was reduced to a role just above a serving wench. At least it was a beautiful night to be out on the docks. It was an even nicer night to be sitting on the docks, she thought to herself as she saw an empty bench not to far from the Outback. She checked her watch, and hadn't been gone nearly as long as she had intended to be. But not that many people outside of Luke ordered ribs after midnight, and just mentioning his name got her special service that most people weren't privy too. She sat down, her whole body relaxing, reminding her that she should be snuggled up asleep, not out playing waitress.  
  
"V? What on earth are you doing out here this late?" Ned was walking Laura home after an enjoyable evening at the Grille, when he noticed his friend sitting out by herself. "It's not safe out here alone any time, and certainly not at this time of night you know."  
  
As much as she wanted to keep her eyes closed and ignore Ned, V knew that he wouldn't allow that, and would only keep bugging her. "I'm out for a walk Ned, that's all," She turned around with a smile, one that froze when she saw who his companion was. Not that V had a problem per say with Luke's ex-wife, but she knew Laura didn't quite feel the same way. "I got hungry, and walked down to Eli's for ribs,"  
  
"You must have had quite a craving," Ned said skeptically, eyeing the three full bags of food. "Or are you having a party and just didn't invite me?"  
  
"That's it Ned. I'm hosting a very exclusive party for one back at my studio, and intentionally decided not to include you. But if you and your guest would like to join me for ribs and some painting, please feel free." V made her offer, looking directly at Laura, offering a silent challenge, knowing that the blonde never would take her up on it. "Or if you're looking to spend a little time with me, we can schedule dinner if you'd like. I'm free tomorrow night if you are."  
  
"A party for one with enough food for five? Tell me another one V." Ned considered pushing his friend, but the look on her face made him stop. "Well, even if you are having a party without me, the least I can do is offer to walk you home. I don't know what Luke was thinking letting you come out here by yourself."  
  
"No need to walk me home, I'm almost there. I'm staying at my studio tonight." Could things get any worse? V wondered to herself, as Laura was glaring daggers at her, and Ned was just digging a deeper hole for himself. "Although Laura looks as if she could use to get home. She's got a little girl who is going to be up and about pretty early. And knowing Lulu, she's going to want to play."  
  
"Lulu is with my mother tonight, but thank you for your concern." Laura shifted uncomfortably, wishing that she had never accepted Ned's invitation. Adult conversation was such a nice treat, but this unexpected run in with Luke's plaything was putting a bad spin on the whole evening.  
  
"You should have called Luke, he would have loved to have kept her tonight Laura." V said through her forced smile. "Maybe we could set up a weekend that we can have her at the club with us. There's a painting she started last time she was over that is still sitting there. But only when you don't have plans of course." She added, knowing that just by mentioning the little girl who got shuffled between her parents could cause friction between Luke and his ex.  
  
"Funny you should mention that, I was looking for him tonight, to discuss just that. Since he no longer takes my calls, maybe you can pass a message along to Luke. His little girl was asking about him today, and she'd like to see him more often then she does." Turning to Ned, her smile softened, and she hated to break up a wonderful night, but she had to get out of there before things got ugly. "I'll walk the rest of the way back home on my own Ned. I've got to work in the morning, but I'll call you about that play date for our girls."  
  
"Ned, why don't you finish walking Laura home. I'm close to the studio, and no one will bother me." V could tell her friend was torn, by the way he was looking between the two women. "It's such a nice night, I'd really like to sit out here for a little while longer, and I don't want to hold you up."  
  
"Well, if you're going to insist, I won't fight with you." Ned finally conceded. "If you don't mind Laura." She shook her head and he gave her one of his dimpled smiles. "Just be careful V, and give me a call, tomorrow will be fine. We're over due for lunch."  
  
"Sure thing boss, my treat this time. I've had a couple of well paying cases. No need to mooch off of you anymore." For the first time since Ned and Laura had walked up to her, V felt like she could let her guard down.  
  
"Well, if you insist, who am I to argue," Ned said, already walking away with Laura.  
  
"Like that's ever stopped you before." V called out, shaking her head. She made a mental note to herself to try and remember to mention to Luke what she had seen. To her knowledge, outside of Stefan Cassadine, Laura hadn't gone out since their divorce, and to see her on what looked like a date with Ned, would more then likely annoy Luke. Or maybe he'd be happy that it finally looked like his former wife was moving on. Either way, he'd like to know she was sure.  
  
~*~  
  
Lesley Webber was sitting in her living room, reading a medical thriller when she heard the phone ring. Her granddaughter was tucked in for the night and it was to late for Laura to decide at the last minute to pick her up. Beyond that, no one except the hospital would know she was normally up this late at night, and she hoped it wasn't going to be an emergency. Finding a babysitter at this hour of the night would be near impossible. She crossed the room and picked up the cordless phone, with a last silent plea for it to be a wrong number. "Hello?"  
  
"Lesley, its Luke. I need a huge favor." Luke started tentatively. He'd tried to stay on good terms with his ex-mother-in-law, but he knew she didn't approve of his relationship with V, which had been a bone of contention between them. "I have a friend who is need of a good doctor, and it's not possible to take him to the hospital. I was hoping that maybe you could come over and help him out for me."  
  
"Luke, it's after midnight, which is just a bit late to be making house calls." She said with a tired sigh. "I also have Lulu upstairs sleeping, and I'm not going to search for a babysitter at this time of night. This can surely wait until the morning can't it?"  
  
"Les, I wouldn't have called you if I didn't need you right now. You're my last resort." Luke ran a hand over his cropped hair, starting to worry that he wasn't going to be able to convince her to come out. "Bring the princess with you. She can sleep here as easily as she can there, and I haven't seen her in what seems like forever. I'd like that. Please won't you help?"  
  
"No Luke. Not even for you will I come out to the club, and take care of whomever it is that needs a bullet pulled out of him. I'll come by in the morning, if someone was dying you'd have gone through other, more stealthy channels." Leslie guessed he was pretty desperate if he had called her, but she wasn't going to give in.  
  
"Tomorrow just isn't good enough, it's got to be tonight, and I'm not at the club, I'm at V's studio." Giving Robert an apologetic look, Luke took a deep breath, before deciding to tell Lesley who it was that was here. He knew that if anyone's phone lines were un-bugged, they were V's. Hardly anyone knew she even kept this place. He was pretty sure Leslie's lines were untapped too, so it should be safe. "Lesley, I have Robert Scorpio here with me. I know you never knew him, but both Laura and I have talked about him a lot over the years. He's not dead like we thought, but he sure looks close to it. He needs someone to look over him, and he won't let one of Sonny's people do it. Please, can't you come over to V's studio and check him out?"  
  
"You just said Robert Scorpio?" There was a name Leslie never thought she wanted to hear again, but her heart almost stopped at the sound of it. "You aren't just saying this to get me there are you?" She asked cautiously, trying not to give away  
  
"No, he's here, and I'm as shocked as anyone." Luke wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but there was something in Lesley's voice that wasn't right. But he was almost sure that even if Robert & Lesley knew one another, it was only a passing acquaintance and nothing more. "Does that mean you'll come?"  
  
"I'll be there." Leslie answered with a sigh. "I'm going to have to wake up Lulu, but I'll be there. Against my better judgment Luke, let that be known up front."  
  
"I got that much. But I'll owe you big time for these Les. And don't worry. V and I will keep the princess busy while you do your thing. It'll be a big adventure for such a little thing." The last hurdle had been cleared, somehow he'd managed to convince Lesley to come over, even with the knowledge that he was at V's studio and that she would be there.  
  
"You've got a lot of nerve Luke, but I'm still going to help you out." Leslie ground out. "This had better be on the up and up." She said before hanging up the phone and going to get Lulu out of bed.  
  
Luke grinned, knowing that for tonight he had won and that everything was going to be ok. "She's coming Rob, you'll be feeling better almost immediately. You're going to love her, Leslie is the best at what she does."  
  
"I don't doubt it at all mate," Robert said cryptically, hoping that he could face another part of his past, without losing total control of the future. There was so much he had to do still, before he could settle into what could be considered a normal life, at least normal for him. 


End file.
